Cherry and what other wood

[Rich Huhra]

I am thinking of building a blanket chest and would like to do the panels in a wood different than the frame. What would your suggestions be for a woods that complement each other. I have available cherry, oak, walnut and maple. What combinations would look the best in a blanket chest.

Thanks
Richard

[Brett Baldwin]

Walnut frame and maple panels would be a striking contrast.
Maple frame with cherry panels would be more subtle.
You'd also want to play with finishes to see the end result. You should consider doing miniature version to test different looks and finishes.

[Pete Brown]

I've always liked maple with cherry, but some folks find that too contrasty.

I've never liked red woods with brown woods, so depending on how they age, the cherry and walnut might look odd (to me at least).

Oak goes with everything and nothing <g>. If the grain is loud (flat sawn) I woudln't put it with any of the others.

All my opinions, of course :)

Pete

[Lars Thomas]

Since both cherry and maple are relatively closed grained woods, I think they would go well together. Lars

[Glen Blanchard]

The cherry may look very close to the maple when the project is first completed, but should darken, creating contrast, with time.

[Gary Breckenridge]

Oak goes with oak.
Maple goes with walnut.
Cherry goes with maple.:)

Think five years down the road when the cherry has darkened.:)

[Corey Hallagan]

Walnut is beautiful with Cherry. No said rules... play with it. Oak looks wonderful with many woods.

Corey

[Bill Arnold]

Here's a photo of the bed I built about four years ago using cherry and walnut. Being in the South, I was able to give the cherry a suntan prior to finishing it. The contrast has remained so far.

[Doug Shepard]

It's not on your list but paduak looks really nice with cherry. It really leans the whole thing toward the red direction. The bright orange when cut will eventually darken up to a rich red/brown but much darker than the cherry red tone.

[Robert Goodwin]

I love the contrast, and as the project ages, it gets event better!

[scott spencer]

Maple and walnut both look good with cherry, and are woods that you'll see together fairly often.

[Ron Blaise]

Walnut & Cherry Bookcases;

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y67/WoodySouth/100_1240-1.jpg